Seeking an Academic Partner for a Data Science and Psychology Project (in Toronto)

AlterSpark (www.alterspark.com) is seeking a Toronto-based academic partner to collaborate with an industry-academic project, that combines psychology, neuroscience and data science.

Over the last few years, AlterSpark has carried out a range of studies aimed at better understanding and predicting people’s psychological disposition based on how they use and communicate in digital media. The purpose of this research is to develop a set of assessment instruments, technologies and algorithms that can support a range of applications, in marketing, human resources, mental health, and other applied fields.

Our research is grounded in the biological basis of personality, drawing from evolutionary psychology, neuroscience, behavioral science, mental health literature, and psycho linguistics. We are combining the psychological side of our research with online data science, primarily employing lexical analysis and online behavioral tracking, in order to predict user’s psychological and behavioral responses to interactive experiences. We have already completed several studies and now, we are seeking an academic partner to assist with our next round of research and development.

Our ideal partner will collaborate on our systematic review on the biological basis of personality, and assist with the advancement of our predictive algorithms. Our applied goals are to deploy research products and services for the growing predictive analytics market, with a focus on psychology-based algorithms that can be used for marketing, relationship matching, and mental health risk scoring.

We are applying for funding to support our next round of research and development, and would like to find a Toronto-based academic group interested in hosting a post-doctoral researcher and participating in this project.